Season 2 episode 2: How do you solve a problem like the Financial Ombudsman Service?

Ashurst Legal Outlook Podcast

In this episode, our expert panel weighs up potential changes to the way that the UK's Financial Ombudsman Service resolves customer complaints, with a view to clearing up uncertainty and creating a more consistent framework for firms to follow.

Our panel for this episode includes host Nathan Willmott, his Ashurst colleague Adam Jamieson and special guest Adam Temple, a barrister at 3 Verulam Buildings (3VB). Together, they reflect on the evolution of the Financial Ombudsman Service ,which was set up in 2001 to deal with consumer complaints and secure redress when things go wrong. As Adam Temple points out, two decades later “it is a quite different beast” from what was originally envisaged.

The episode then goes on to unpick some of the challenges that have beset the Ombudsman, the complainants and financial services firms. These include the increased volume of complaints, delays and complexity in the system, the notoriously tricky task of assessing what is “fair and reasonable”, and the difficulties that come with "mass redress events" (like PPI or the current issue of motor finance).

Attention then turns to possible solutions. Our expert panel starts by considering the most drastic option (e.g. dismantling the Financial Ombudsman Service completely) before suggesting more pragmatic improvements such as changing the "fair and reasonable" test that the Ombudsman is required to apply and giving the Financial Conduct Authority more power to intervene where appropriate.

To listen to this and subscribe to future episodes in our enforcement mini-series, search for ‘Ashurst Legal Outlook’ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast player. And to find out more about the full range of Ashurst podcasts, visit ashurst.com/podcasts.

The information provided is not intended to be a comprehensive review of all developments in the law and practice, or to cover all aspects of those referred to. Listeners should take legal advice before applying it to specific issues or transactions.

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